New Urbanism, or Smart Growth, has always been sold as a green idea--high density, mixed use, walkable neighborhoods close to mass transit to lessen the need for car travel.

Montgomery County, with dwindling land for new development, has seized upon New Urbanism with a vengeance. In 2006, the county already had existing plans to bring in 160,000 more jobs, and build 80,000 to 90,000 more housing units--which would support some 200,000 more residents--a 20% population growth for the county.

High density, mixed use developments were planned for every metro stop available and even some where there was no convenient metro stop. Plans were on the board for Twinbrook, White Flint, Glenmont, Wheaton, Germantown, and Shady Grove. Even Planning Director Rollin Stanely acknowledged that, "In the short term there will be more congestion," but held out hope for "an ability for that pattern to change over time."

The 2006 election, supposedly brought in a slow growth majority to the County Council, but since then reworked master plans for White Flint, Germantown and the new "Science City" west of Gaithersburg could mean an additional 33,000 housing units and 121,000 jobs on top of that. To make matters worse, developers have won the legal discretion to set both the timing and mix of what they build, which will make it even harder for the county to plan for needed infrastructure such as schools, roads or transit.

The New Urbanism was originally proposed as an alternative to suburban sprawl. Instead we are seeing an urban sprawl that will fill already congested roads with more and more cars, that will burden already overcrowded schools, and that will only add to the pollution of our air and groundwater.

Montgomery County is a finite space with finite resources. At some point our planners must face this inevitable fact.